This invention relates to litter box arrangements for pets such as cats, and more particularly to a litter box arrangement which permits separation of the solid pet excrement from the granular litter material to permit reuse of the litter material.
A number of United States patents in the prior art show various litter box constructions for pets, particularly cats, which have as their object the separation of the solid animal waste or excrement from the granular litter to permit reuse of the litter. Some of these prior art litter box arrangements are impractical to use and expensive to manufacture since they utilize complicated constructions involving use of numerous component parts such as a multiplicity of receptacles, screen devices, and movable partitions in a single apparatus.
The following United States patents are of interest with respect to the disclosure of the present application:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,233,588--issued to Charles E. Thomas on Feb. 8, 1966, and
U.S. Pat. No. 4,096,827--issued to James A. Cotter on June 27, 1978.
The patents to Thomas and Cotter both disclose litter box constructions including two cooperating pans or receptacles and a screen adapted to be interposed between the two receptacles to permit one of the receptacles, which has a mixture of litter and solid pet excrement therein, to be positioned in inverted relation above both the interposed screen and the other receptacle, which is empty and upwardly open. This permits the granular litter material to pass by gravity from the upper receptacle through the screen to the empty lower receptacle, with the solid pet excrement being separated from the granular litter material and remaining on the upper surface of the screen, from which the excrement may then be removed.
However, the device of the Thomas patent does not use two substantially identical litter pans or receptacles as in the case of the present disclosure, but instead uses two pans of different sizes which engage each other telescopically. Furthermore, the device of Thomas requires the use of adapter members which are mounted on the separator screen structure, the adapter members defining keepers which seat the rim portion of the larger size "cover" pan.
While the patent to Cotter shows a self-cleaning cat waste disposal device having two cooperating receptacles and an interposed screen device, the structure of Cotter is otherwise quite dissimilar from that of the present application, since Cotter's two receptacles are angularly movable with respect to each other in a portable suitcase-style container.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide an improved litter box arrangement which permits separation of the solid animal waste or pet excrement from the granular litter material to permit reuse of the litter material, in which the litter box construction is inexpensive to manufacture, is easy to use, and permits quick separation of the granular litter material from the pet excrement, with easy disposal of the separated excrement.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved litter box arrangement using two substantially identical and interchangeable litter pans or receptacles adapted to be slidably engaged with a screen member interposed between the two substantially identical receptacles, to permit granular litter in one receptacle containing a mixture of the litter and the excrement to be discharged through the interposed screen into the other receptacle, with the solid pet excrement being collected on the surface of the interposed screen from whence it may be easily removed for disposal.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved litter box arrangement, including a pair of substantially identical interchangeable litter pans or receptacles which are adapted to cooperate with each other and with an interposed screen member in a slidable interlocking arrangement to facilitate the inversion of the two cooperating receptacles and the interposed screen member, to affect the separation of the solid excrement from the granular litter material so as to permit reuse of the litter material.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide an improved litter box arrangement, including a pair of substantially identical cooperating litter pans or receptacles which interlockingly slidably engage an interposed filtering screen member between the two receptacles and which further includes means for accurately locating and orienting the receptacles and the interposed screen in proper relation to each other.
In achievement of these objectives, there is provided in accordance with the present invention an animal waste collection and disposal device of the type which contains a litter material into which animal waste matter is deposited. The device comprises an assembly including a pair of opposed receptacles, each of said receptacles having wall portions defining a litter-receiving chamber which is open over at least a portion of one major planar face of said receptacle. The open portion of each receptacle is in facing relation to the open portion of the other receptacle and a screen member is adapted to be positioned in interposed relation between said opposed receptacles.
First guide track means carried by and corresponding to each of the receptacles and second guide track means carried by the screen member, are utilized with said guide track means of each of said receptacles being slidably engageable with the guide track means of said screen member to interlockingly detachably engage said receptacles with said screen member. Said receptacles are positioned in opposed relation to each other on opposite vertical sides of said screen member to permit inversion of the assembled receptacles and interposed screen member to effect transfer by gravity of said litter material through said screen member from the upper inverted receptacle to the lower receptacles, with the solid animal waste material being retained on the upper surface of said screen member.
A further feature of the construction is the provision of abutment means at opposite longitudinal ends of said assembly to limit the longitudinal sliding movement of said receptacles relative to said screen to properly position said receptacles relative to said screen and relative to each other.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent in light of the present specification.